Category: Chicago Advertising Photographer

This assignment required me to travel to New York and this is what what I brought and how I packed.

In my Pelican Case 1510(fits in overheads bin on airplanes)

It carried a Canon 5D Mark 111 body with battery grip, a Sigma 50mm 2.8, a Canon 85mm 1.2, a Canon 24-70mm 2.8, a Canon 70-200mm 2.8, a Sekonic light meter for Elinchrom, El-Skyport for Canon (it lets you adjust the power of the strobes from the camera) and a color checker Passport for grey card.

In my Pelican Case 1610(must be checked so get airport approved locks)

And last but not least my Samsonite travel backpack with laptop sleeve.

A Macbook pro, tether cords, a LaCie 1TB Rugged Mini Portable Hard Drive, my cubs hat from game six of the 2016 NLCS verse the Dodgers in which the Cubs won 5-0 which allowed them to advance on to and win the World Series and my two note books for lighting and location notes. Luckily for me on this one the client had access to lighting stand’s and a 6′ Elichrom octabank light shaper so I didn’t have to travel with a stand bag.

Here are a few final edits from the shoot.

We even had enough time to hit Time Square and grab a few cool environmental captures.

All the client select edits for the Giam Spring shoot in New York can be viewed shawnkinney.com

What does that mean exactly? If you have been or are looking to start shooting for commercial clients. Its important to understand the who, what, where and why of your clients expectations. They are going into the shoot relying on you for certain things. The most obvious is the final product but some of them also rely on you to direct them through the process to achieve the final product. At some point, you are called on to be an art director (how to arrive at your final goal), stylist (knowing what looks good together), location scout, and even a talent scout. If you don’t have the support crew to complete certain tasks, it’s up to you. The following is a real life example of how this can happen:

It’s Monday morning and a potential client from New York emailed me to ask if I can put together a yoga shoot by Thursday and have selected edits emailed out Friday morning. In addition, they wanted me to secure a location and have eight models for the shoot. They were looking for eleven different looks, setup in a yoga studio, and one outdoor location. I took a couple of minutes to digest the email and determine if it was feasible to pull this off. I said we can definitely pull off the looks indoors, but I was not sure we had enough time to go to an outdoor location. After agreeing to scrap the outdoor location, he promptly booked his flight to Chicago. He was bringing all the necessary yoga apparel and gear with him on the plane as there was not enough time to ship it to Chicago. In the meantime, I spent the next two days confirming talent and support crew while reviewing the mood board sent by the clients art department to determine what looks are best for what part of the studio.

Wednesday night arrived and that’s when my client was supposed to fly into Chicago from New York. Something occurred while he was going through security at the airport. All of his luggage containing the yoga gear and apparel made it on to the plane, but he did not. He called me and asked if I could go to baggage claim and get the bags while he caught the next available flight, which happened to be at midnight. I agreed without hesitation. Once you agree to take a job, it is necessary to do what ever it takes to deliver the finished product! After securing the product, I dropped it off at the yoga studio and headed home for the night knowing tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Thursday morning came and the client informed me that he will be at our location late morning and to start without him. This was not the ideal experience for the first time working with someone, but I had the skill to deal with this kind of situation. I still needed input on setups and final image approval, but no one was on site to do this. In order to get the shoot started and headed in the right direction, I added a viewing gallery to my website and uploaded low-res images so the client in New York could approve the images as we go. This wasn’t the ideal structure since we were on a time crunch, but it worked pretty well. I received approval on images before heading to the next setup and in order to make the most of our time, I had the models dressed and set to go when their setup was ready.

This setup actually worked out really well and only minimally slowed down the shooting pace. I was able to continue throughout the day. My client checked in on set around eleven and he was extremely happy with the results thus far so he only stayed for a couple of hours and then headed back to New York. In the end, the shoot was a huge success and they turned out to be a very happy repeat client. As you can see, as a commercial photographer, a lot rides on your ability to delegate responsibilities and preform multiple tasks. You have to do more than just take the photograph. You have to make sure everything gets accomplished and the final product gets delivered as agreed upon.

Here are some of the edits from the shoot.

The day went so well I was able to complete the request for an outdoor location. This goes back to my favorite saying. “Under promise and over deliver!”

How did I really complete such a daunting request from a potential client? I know what I don’t know! And that comes with years of experience. I knew that completing eleven plus looks and setups in one day is very difficult. I learned a lot from this experience. When my phone isn’t ringing from potential clients, I am working on my craft. I have shot at the yoga studio so much I knew every angle of every room. I also would some time put time restraints on some of my shoots to see if I could still complete quality work under a time crunch. All of these previous shoots prepared my for this day.

Know your equipment and know your surroundings. With that you can accomplish any task your client requests of you.

The first setup I wanted to do a fierce Black and white portrait to set the tone for shoot.

Camera settings f/1.8 @1/200 ISO 100

With a slight change in camera angle you can see how the mood changes in your photograph. That is why I almost always shoot without a tripod. This gives my the freedom to explore the different qualities of light created simply be changing where you stand.

Below is the behind the scenes photo illustrating the lighting set up.

Main/Key light was a Elinchrom Portalite 22″ Octa with translucent deflector. Rim light which was to camera right was a 40′ grid with a 1/4 stop cto warming gel and the fill was a golden bounce reflector.

Second setup

For this setup I took advantage of the available sun light(in this image it created the back light and both rim lights on the subject). When combining available light and artificial strobe lighting it is key to 1st meter the source you cant control. In this case it would be the sunlight. I then add one strobe at a time to get the results I am looking for. The 2 Elinchrom ELB 400 packs and heads were use for a controlled fill light on both front sides of the subject face and legs.

Camera settings F/1.8 @ 1/250 & iso 200

For a slightly different look a separated the model from the bike and Changed the lighting setup slightly. Main/Key light was a 35″ Dynalite grand soft box with internal diffusion, fill light was a golden bounce reflector and the strobe head had a 1/4 stop cto warming gel directed towards the the stationary bike.

Camera Settings F/1.8 @ 1/200 & ISO 100

For the last setup we moved into the yoga room where we created these. We were under a time restraint so no BTS photos for this setup. But I used two Elinchrom ELB 400 power packs with pro heads. Camera left had a 1/4 stop cto warming gel on it to add some warmth.

I am Chicago based Fitness/Lifestlye Photographer with a majority of my work being done on location. The very first thing I do is take a visual assessment of the location. Then determine what is a distraction and what can add to the value to the final image. What is it about the location that will help you tell the story? Or is it just about the individual you are photographing? This all can be manipulated by your composition, lighting and the depth of field of the image.

Below Setup #1 : Two Elinchrom ELB 400 power packs with pro heads. The pro head on camera right has a frosted diffuser and the pro head to camera left using the 47″ Westcott grand soft box with the Elinchrom Translucent Deflector. I removed the outer diffusion of the soft box to give it a little more punch a crisper light.

Camera Settings F/1.8 @ 1/80 ISO 50

Below Setup #2 : Two Elinchrom ELB 400 power packs with pro heads. The pro head in far right corner of the image has a Elinchrom 7″ grid reflector with a 40′ degree grid. This is used to focus the light and give it a harsher rim light on the model. The head directly next to me was using the 47″ Westcott grand soft box with the Elinchrom Translucent Deflector. I removed the outer diffusion of the soft box to give it a little more punch a crisper light.

Camera Settings F/2.8 @ 1/60, ISO 50

Below Setup #3 Elinchrom ELB 400 power packs with pro heads. The pro head in lower right corner of the image has a Elinchrom 7″ grid reflector with a 40′ degree grid. This is used to focus the light and give it a harsher rim light on the model. The head in the back of image was using the 47″ Westcott grand soft box with the Elinchrom Translucent Deflector. I removed the outer diffusion of the soft box to give it a little more punch a crisper light. This was my point of view.

Camera settings F/2.8 @ 1/60 ISO 50

Below Setup #4 Elinchrom ELB 400 power packs with pro heads. The pro head in back right corner of the image has a Elinchrom 7″ grid reflector with a 40′ degree grid. This is used to focus the light and give it a harsher rim light on the model. The head in the in the foreground has a frosted diffuser. This was my point of view.

Camera settings for above two final images F/1.8 @ 1/50 ISO 50

Below Setup #5 Elinchrom ELB 400 power packs with pro heads. The pro head in back left corner of the image has a Elinchrom 7″ grid reflector with a 40′ degree grid. This is used to focus the light and give it a harsher rim light on the model. The head in the in the foreground(to the right of me) has a frosted diffuser.

Camera Settings F/3.5 @ 1/50 ISO 125

The short flash duration of the Elinchrom Qudra strobes heads is what freezes the subjects while allowing me to shoot using a slower shutter speed. This allows me to take advantage of the available light and light the entire scene using only two strobe heads.

Thanks for reading. If you have any question or thoughts on my work please feel free to reach out.

Don’t waste you time and money on stock images. I can’t emphasis enough the importance of separating yourself from your competitors. These days everyone wants to shop and meet via the internet. So why not take advantage of it. Show everyone what your brand really is all about with custom imagery.

This is a marketing campaign for a message therapist, showing off some of her advanced massage techniques.

Massaging techniques to sooth a headache and neck pain

Working out the calf tightness

Working on the lower back

and below is a advance technique called cupping. It works by creating suction and negative pressure, massage cupping is used to drain excess fluids and toxins; stimulate the peripheral nervous system; bring blood flow to stagnant muscles and skin; and loosen adhesions, connective tissue and stubborn knots in soft tissues.

By creating your own custom images you will show your potential clients you in action. So lets work together and get you message out to the masses. Contact me @ shawn@shawnkinney.com or cell 702-232-0882

This shoot was for Designer Protein Ambassador campaign and was shot on location at a local gym in Chicago Il. The Dynalite XP-800 power inverter gives me the ability to bring my studio lighting to any location. Which allows me to properly expose for the background (Chicago Skyline) and then light the subject appropriately.

Tribalanceis located on the Northwest corner of S. Roselle & Wise Road in Schaumburg. To maintain their Yoga persona the interior build out was constructed of 60% of recycled material. They provide both in group and private sessions and offer Meditation, Yoga, Yoga Teacher training, Barre classes, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Condition, Kickboxing, Tri-fit (bootcamp style training), Thai Bodywork and Acupuncture.

I truly believe in order us to grow we need to know and understand were we can from. The journey in my opinion is just as important as our final destination. The evolution of my photography started with the desire to capture breath taking landscapes and grew from there. After the purchase of my first DSLR in 2008 and many hours learning the ins and outs from any book I could get my hands on. I was able to capture theses images while out on a hike in Death Valley California

These were honestly the first two images I ever intentionally set out to captured. My photography desire quickly change from landscape to fashion due to the influence of my first instructor at the Art Institute of Las Vegas. After understanding the ability to control the mode and feel of the images with studio lighting I wanted nothing more to do with landscapes for now. Upon relocating to Wa in 2011 I set out to develop my fashion portfolio and thats when I first met and became good friends withBri Seeley. Here are a couple of Images from her 2011 look book.

Later that year I met and became good friends with commercial photographer Dean Zulich He also started his photography career with a desire for landscape photography and quickly became known for his unbelievable ability to create conceptual images. The next step in my evolution I truly owe to him as he showed me how to blend my two loves. The initial love for landscape photography with my new love of fashion photography and this was born. Another collaboration with fashion designer Bri Seeley.

Then I wanted to bring my conceptual work into the studio. This was also captured 2012

From here I went on to develop my dynamic studio portrait shooting style. Images below were shoot in 2013.

Above is my first fitness composite. Model shoot in studio and then added to trail landscape shoot in 2013

Next was fitness/athletics on location and a 5 am location call created the images below.

Then I hit the beach to create this

mixed in a little a running

and that brings us to 2015

and my latest adventure below. Multiple exposures.

and thats a wrap on my quick breakdown of the evolution of my photography journey. The most important thing I have learned along the way, is that the greatest piece of equipment is your own personal version and the ability to apply to your clients needs. I am look forward to the growth I will experience in 2016.

“Your ability to thrive in any environment and any situation rests not primarily on what you do, but who you are as a person, an individual; a human being”

Say hello to Ambler(facebook) as she explains her journey of transformation and how turning 40 was the happiest year of her life.

I turned 40 in May 2008. I had already lost 90 lbs at that point and had 10 lbs more to go. In June, on a Sunday, I ran my first triathlon. On Monday I had a colonoscopy and on Wednesday I stepped on the Ice for the first time in my life. Welcome to 40.

My motto is never pass up an opportunity!!

Where did you grow up? I grew up in a condo in a suburb on the South side of Toledo, Ohio. My dad was a Longshoreman. He left really early in the morning for work, would be home by 3 o’clock and then it was naptime. Dinner was on the table by 5 and the game shows went on the TV, so the typical middle class blue-collar family life.

As a kid what did you dream about becoming when you grew up? A Marine Biologist. From the time I was about 4 years and I saw my first whale. That continued until college when I flunked Biology and I realized that was not for me. College wasn’t a total bust as it was my undergrad degree in writing that lead me into Hockey.

Did your parents encourage you to be creative? My mom and dad were of the mindset of you go to school, you work hard, get married, buy your house and have your kids. They were pretty traditional.

At this point in your life, are you happy where you are at? I can honestly say that the year I turned 40 by far was has been the happiest year of my life. It’s when I lost weight, started playing hockey and gained a ton of friends.

If there is one significant thing in your life right now you could change, what would it be? I wouldn’t change anything, because if I did, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

Can you share one of your most vivid childhood memories? This was when I was in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade. I was outside with my friends playing in the cornfield behind my house and lost track of time. I had no idea that my mom had been calling me for dinner. I finally realized it was getting dark, so I ran back home. I get in the house and my dad is there. He says, “You are in so much trouble right now. Go and wash your hands for dinner.” As I am washing my hands, I am shaking and I’m thinking to myself, ‘I am in so much trouble right now.” As I walk out of the bathroom, I hear my dad say to my mom, “What are you talking about? She’s in the bathroom washing her hands.” I just realized my dad totally covered for me. When I got to the table for dinner, he looked at me and said, “Now you have to eat your mashed potatoes.” The thing is, he loved mashed potatoes. We had them with every meal and I wasn’t a real big fan. So that night, I ate my mashed potatoes.

What accomplishment are you most proud of? I started playing hockey at the age of 40 and just a year later I was coaching. I met so many other adults in the same situation I’d been in when I first started I thought I had an opportunity to help people avoid what I’d experienced – wanting to play, but not really have a place to go. So I started an instructional league with 11 people 5 years ago and now almost 500 people have been through my program.

What has been the biggest obstacle you came across getting into hockey? The lack of coaching for adults with no hockey experience. When I joined my first hockey clinic, I was on the ice with about 40 people, all men. The entire time, all the coach says to me is “skate faster.” I don’t know how to stop. I don’t know how to turn or to do anything on skates and all he kept saying to me was skate faster. I kept running into the boards, or falling down, everyone laughing at me. It was humiliating. I spent the next week going to open skate in order to teach myself how to stop. All along I had this fantasy in my head of snowing the coach at the next clinic. So the next week, I get to the hockey clinic and there are about 10 people there and a new coach. The first thing he does is teaches us how to stop. That’s when I thought to myself this is ridiculous and in that moment I know what kind of hockey coach I’d want to be. Now that I have my instructional league, the very first thing I ask is who doesn’t know how to stop. We teach them to stop before going on to anything else.

What has been the biggest change in your life after finding your happy place? Probably getting divorced.About 2 years after I started playing, I guess I changed too much. The ironic thing is our relationship was all about taking chances and growing together. We would always jump at new opportunities, but this time I jumped and he didn’t. That led to my husband and I growing apart. It was a very successful 23-year relationship, but it got to the point where he didn’t recognize the person he fell in love with anymore and he had to move on. We were ok with that. He needed to be where he was happy and I needed to be where I was happy and this is where I am happy.

Do you have any advice for those people struggling with the dreaded 9 to 5? Well I don’t have a dreaded 9 to 5.I love to teach.I teach where other people don’t want to teach on the South Side of Chicago. I teach 7th grade science, social studies and reading. Don’t get me wrong, it has its bad days. There are days that I feel like I didn’t do anything meaningful, but those days are out-weighed by the good days. Hockey is a part time job for me, but is such a huge part of my life. Since it’s only a part time job, so many people ask me why I put so much time into it. Well the reason is, when I see the smiles on the faces of players that go through my program, it gives such a intrinsic satisfaction knowing that I had something to do with that. I have also met so many amazing people. Some have become my dearest friends and I would not have that if I didn’t start this program. It is a passion and if you do something that you are passionate about, the time is always worth it.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your younger self? My motto is never pass up an opportunity!! You’re going to do what you’re going to do and it will all work out in the end. If something comes your way, you figure out how to make it work. I read something recently that said something like “people like to say ‘I can’t.’ But its not that they can’t, its just that they don’t really want to.”

Thanks for sharing Ambler and I hope this shows everyone that its never to late to live the life you deserve. More of my work can be view at www.shawnkinney.com